The protection, delivery and controlled release of biologically active proteins have a wide variety of applications. Such applications range from use as biological reagents, therapeutics, anti-pest products, in tissue engineering and many others.
However, while various delivery approaches have been established, developing the ability to deliver proteins according to local environmental changes, e.g., pH remains highly challenging.
In practice it may be necessary to protect the protein, for example a therapeutic, from degradation due to chemical, physical, and biological factors in certain environments, before it is introduced into the target environment. Conversely, it may be necessary to protect a particular biological environment from the protein if the protein is, for example, a targeted toxin.
There are various drawbacks with present encapsulation methods. For example, growth factors are widely used in tissue engineering applications to induce and guide blood vessel formation. However, their incorporation into protective matrices such as hydrogel scaffolds can results in a reduction in activity due to reactions such as cross-linking.
There is thus a general need for methods and materials that can protect proteins from certain environments, while simultaneously allowing them to be released and functional in other environments.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide improved methods and materials useful for encapsulating proteins, advantageously with options for controlled release of the encapsulated protein, and/or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.